Twins as a Minority: A Minority Building Perspective

Abstract

Not all numerical minorities classify as ‘minorities’ in any political or legal sense, even when they possess easily definable biological or social characteristics. Twins are an example of such a group. The article discusses minorities as the result of minority building, i.e., a process through which some specific human characteristic becomes the basis of group identity, networking, mobilization, and claims on rights and recognition. It presents some of the existing discourse and research on twins as a biological and social category. Subsequent sections inspect twins’ potential claims and mobilization. Many of the claims refer to our culture’s treatment of twins as one social unit, and to the assumption of a ‘special bond’ between them. Although probably not a biological reality, it is a strong social reality with effect on twins’ lives. The idea of the ‘special bond’ conflicts with the prevailing Western discourse on individual personhood and agency. Not unlike other such efforts, a possible twins’ activism would need to find a balance between essentialist and constructionist definitions of the group. The essentialist discourse is part of the claimed problem, but at the same time, it may be necessary in order to legitimate the minority’s claim for recognition. Twins are hardly a repressed minority, but there are specific situations in which they could claim for recognition and more sensitivity.